Drivers heading east out of Bakersfield are expected to be able to loop north onto Highway 99 soon, following the completion of construction on a new connector. The work marks the latest phase in the long-running project to untangle one of the city's busiest freeway junctions. With construction on this piece complete, the Thomas Roads Improvement Program is now seven-eighths complete, leaving just one more turning movement before the interchange is fully built out.
The milestone was detailed Friday by Bakersfield.com, which reported that construction is complete on the latest portion of the interchange linking highways 99 and 58. Once available to drivers, the new loop connector will let motorists traveling east from Bakersfield turn north onto Highway 99, filling in another piece of a freeway puzzle that has been under construction for years.
What's left is narrower but still significant: the ability to turn west onto Highway 58 from southbound Highway 99, according to the outlet's report. That remaining connection is expected to be available soon, though the report does not specify an exact timeline for when drivers can expect to use it.
A Program Years in the Making
The Thomas Roads Improvement Program has brought together the City of Bakersfield, Kern County, Caltrans and the Kern Council of Governments as partners, according to a report from Bakersfield Now. The program's Centennial Corridor piece connects Highway 58 to the Westside Parkway and Interstate 5, representing an investment of more than $600 million, with a 1.5-mile mainline stretch linking highways 99 and 58 at the center of the work.
Funding for the Centennial Corridor came largely from federal sources, which covered 74.58% of the project, with the state contributing 9.35% and local sources making up the remaining 16.07%, per the same outlet's account. The California Transportation Commission also approved a $39.9 million grant for the final portion of the Centennial Corridor project, awarded to Caltrans and the Kern Council of Governments for the southbound Highway 99-to-westbound Highway 58 connector ramp, Bakersfield.com reported in a separate article.
Conflicting Numbers on the Total Price Tag
KGET 17 News has previously described the broader Thomas Roads Improvement Program as a $1.4 billion program. KGET also reported separately that the Centennial Corridor would take 15 years and cost $1.5 billion when finished, describing it as technically four projects rolled into one; the station's reporting elsewhere described the Centennial Corridor as comprised of four different phases.
Timelines have also shifted. Bakersfield Now reported in July 2025 that construction on the final ramp segment was scheduled to begin in spring 2027, a date that sits ahead of this week's announcement that the latest phase is already complete. The discrepancy between that earlier construction timeline and the current seven-eighths-complete status has not been reconciled in available reporting.
What the Finished Interchange Means for Drivers
Once complete, the project is expected to directly connect State Route 58 and eastern Kern County with the Westside Parkway and, ultimately, Interstate 5, according to KGET's earlier coverage. A project manager told the station that the new direct connection from northbound Highway 99 to the Westside Parkway would reduce vehicle miles traveled and emissions, and Bakersfield Now has separately reported that the final connector ramp project is expected to reduce stop-and-go traffic and emissions on local roads.
Bakersfield.com has described the Centennial Corridor as having already changed the landscape of Bakersfield itself, a nod to how dramatically the interchange work has reshaped the city's westside over the past several years. A related piece of that reshaping came in 2024, when the City of Bakersfield approved a connector ramp for eastbound Highway 58 motorists traveling to Highway 99, according to Turnto23. Granite Construction Company won that bid at a total cost of $27.3 million, beating out a next-lowest bid of $36.8 million, the outlet reported.
With construction on the latest loop connector complete and drivers expected to be able to use it soon, just one turning movement remains to finish. Bakersfield's long-reshaped freeway map is close to its final form — even if the exact cost and completion date of that last piece remain unsettled across competing accounts.
